RNs at Bellevue want protection from a union

Maternity hospital's new policies prompt request by the nurses

Updated 7:34 pm, Thursday, October 3, 2013

Vickie Decker, a registered nurse for 24 years at Bellevue Hospital, center, speaks during a demonstration by Bellevue nurses who are looking to unionize Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013, outside Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, N.Y. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union) less

Vickie Decker, a registered nurse for 24 years at Bellevue Hospital, center, speaks during a demonstration by Bellevue nurses who are looking to unionize Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013, outside Ellis Hospital in ... more

Photo: John Carl D'Annibale

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Christine Walthers, a registered nurse in the post-partum unit at Bellevue Hospital, speaks during a demonstration by Bellevue nurses Thursday Oct. 3, 2013, outside Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, NY. The nurses are looking to unionize. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union) less

Christine Walthers, a registered nurse in the post-partum unit at Bellevue Hospital, speaks during a demonstration by Bellevue nurses Thursday Oct. 3, 2013, outside Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, NY. The nurses ... more

Photo: John Carl D'Annibale

Image 3 of 4

Nurses hold during a demonstration by nurses from asking Bellevue Hospital management to recognized them as a union Thursday Oct. 3, 2013, outside Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, NY. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union) less

Ellis Hospital RN Carol Ann Lemon, left, speaks during a demonstration by nurses from Bellevue Hospital Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013, outside Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, N.Y. The nurses would like to be recognized as a union. At right is Christine Walthers, a registered nurse in the post-partum unit at Bellevue Hospital. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union) less

Ellis Hospital RN Carol Ann Lemon, left, speaks during a demonstration by nurses from Bellevue Hospital Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013, outside Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, N.Y. The nurses would like to be ... more

Photo: John Carl D'Annibale

RNs at Bellevue want protection from a union

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Schenectady

Citing concerns over patient care, registered nurses at Bellevue Woman's Center on Thursday asked administrators at Ellis Medicine to recognize their right to join a union.

About a dozen nurses demonstrated outside Ellis Hospital, where the health system's corporate offices are located, voicing concerns over new policies at the Niskayuna maternity center that require the same nurses to treat both mothers and newborns. Previously, nurses were expected to have expertise specific to adults or babies, they said.

Nurses have not received sufficient training to expand their responsibilities, especially in urgent situations involving newborns, said Vickie Decker, who has worked at Bellevue for 24 years.

Bellevue's floor plan might also make it risky for a nurse to be responsible for a mother and her baby, said three-year nurse Christine Walthers. Other maternity facilities have nurseries in the center of a maternity ward, surrounded by mothers' rooms. At Bellevue, the newborn nursery is located down a long corridor from the mothers.

The registered nurses declared their intention to join the New York State Nurses Association, which already represents RNs at Ellis Medicine campuses on Nott and McClellan streets. The health system was created with the merger of Ellis, St. Clare's and Bellevue hospitals five years ago.

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Nurses in the union have more of a say in policy decisions that determine how patients will be cared for, the Bellevue nurses said.

Rising patient-to-staff ratios were also a concern expressed. Nurses are being asked to care for up to 10 patients at once at Bellevue, Decker said. Four respected managers there were recently fired, she added.

In an emailed statement, Ellis Medicine said it had not received any official requests from nurses to join the union, and it defended its policies and procedures.

"The way our care is delivered on all of our campuses is evidence-based and we are fortunate to have highly skilled and caring medical, dental and nursing staffs," the statement read.

Nurses left a request early Thursday afternoon at the office of Ellis President and CEO James W. Connolly to acknowledge the intent of 125 Bellevue RNs to join NYSNA, Decker said. Connolly was not in his office at the time.

Niskayuna Supervisor Joe Landry, acting on behalf of the nurses, tried to arrange a meeting with Connolly last week, but the Ellis CEO declined, Landry said by phone after Thursday's demonstration.

When the hospitals merged in 2008, Bellevue nurses were promised their benefits would remain the same as nurses represented by NYSNA, they said. But Ellis administrators have recently changed some of their benefits, including taking away vacation time, Decker said.